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Topic: So Many Problems- Please Pray! (Read 4054 times)

I am unworthy of all your prayers, but I humbly and desperately beseech them. I'm not exactly a 'well known' forum member I guess, but so many of you seem like great and holy people.

I'm about to stop taking a medicine that I've taken for a long time and it's going to take an enormous toll on me: physically, mentally, and spiritually. I had to quit my job so I could 'detox' from this: the first time I've been unemployed since I was 16 and I'm 23 now.

I should of been done with college a year ago, but couldn't afford the last semester so now I need find a new job after my 'detox' to raise $3,000 so I can finally have my degree. I couldn't raise the money before because I have no healthcare and my grants could not be renewed. At this point, I don't even know if I'll be able to get in the last remaining classes by fall.

My family life is a nightmare. My older siblings, who are screw-ups, have trampled on my parents and it is taking a heavy toll on them.

I didn't mean to turn this into a sob fair; I've never opened up personally online and very rarely do I in my actual life. Nearly nobody knows the actual truth to how deep my mess has become. I feel like I'm facing a giant wall that cannot be broken through.

May the Lord help you with all these issues and grant you peace and good health.

Lord, have mercy!

Logged

Conquer evil men by your gentle kindness, and make zealous men wonder at your goodness. Put the lover of legality to shame by your compassion. With the afflicted be afflicted in mind. Love all men, but keep distant from all men.—St. Isaac of Syria

If at all possible, don't quit your meds cold turkey. Many years ago, I stopped a med that way, and it made me sick as a dog. Is there a way to gradually reduce your dose to nothing? It would be the most prudent way of proceeding. If you stop some antidepressants suddenly, for example, you can become suicidal. You don't need that right now. You need for someone to be kind to you, especially--and I cannot stress this enough--yourself.

Forget about school for a bit; take that pressure off your shoulders. The school is not going anywhere, and you don't have the psychic energy to tackle that problem right now anyway: your health is problem #1. The first thing you must do is find a doctor. This is possible even without insurance. Hospitals often have endowments and programs to help those without means. Don't be proud; call them all until you find one. Also, cities, states and counties often run special healthcare programs featuring a sliding scale for services up to, and including, no fee at all. You've got to have medical support while you are getting off this med in order to maintain your mental equilibrium. That's of critical importance. You need the support of other people.

Also, try to forget about your family. I realize it sounds harsh, but you can do nothing for them while your own boat is taking on water. You can address that problem later. For the moment, turn them over to the care of God. Pray to Him to give you assistance and strength and to help light your way.

"I feel like I'm facing a giant wall that cannot be broken through."

It always feels that way when we're overwhelmed. If you want to eat a big steak, you cut it into pieces first. Once you attend to your primary problem, you'll often find that the solutions to any lesser problems start to fall into place. (Sometimes the mere passage of time helps.) Write a list of your current challenges from most important to least important, and tackle them in order, one at a time, a little at a time. Just put one foot in front of the other, and keep moving forward. That's the way Sir Edmund Hillary got to the top of Mt Everest.

Time is the means through which God manifests his help to us, so be patient. And remember that adversity is often sent to test and strengthen us. When this is over, you'll be a much stronger person for having endured it. I'll keep you in my prayers.

St Basil the Great (330-379 A.D.): “I think then that the one goal of all who are really and truly serving the Lord ought to be to bring back to union the churches who have at different times and in diverse manners divided from one another.”

A couple of gems from a book called "Achieving Your Potential in Christ: Theosis," by Anthony M. Coniaris:

"Theosis is a beautiful word but what does it say to those who are trying to cope with a terrible illness, or struggling to make a go of a sour marriage, or to those who are burdened with anxieties and cares? Theosis has everything to say to struggling humanity. It tells us that we have the capacity through the presence of God within us to transcend and overcome any and every difficulty in life, including the greatest one of all: death."

"Theosis tells us to 'hang in there' no matter how hard the struggle or the temptation because God has great things in store for us."

The memory of God should be treasured in our hearts like the precious pearl mentioned in the Holy Gospel. Our life's goal should be to nurture and contemplate God always within, and never let it depart, for this steadfastness will drive demons away from us. - Paraphrased from St. Philotheus of Sinai Writings from the Philokalia: On Prayer of the Heart,Translated from the Russian by E. Kadloubovksy and G.E.H. Palmer, Faber and Faber, London, Boston, 1992 printing.

"For, by its immensity, the divine substance surpasses every form that our intellect reaches. Thus we are unable to apprehend it by knowing what it is. Yet we are able to have some knowledge of it by knowing what it is not." - St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra gentiles, I, 14.

Conquer evil men by your gentle kindness, and make zealous men wonder at your goodness. Put the lover of legality to shame by your compassion. With the afflicted be afflicted in mind. Love all men, but keep distant from all men.—St. Isaac of Syria